


Burned Bridges

by Schnaucl (Onetrackmind)



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Episode S04e18 When Worlds Collide, Gen, from prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-14
Updated: 2008-08-14
Packaged: 2017-11-21 03:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/592699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onetrackmind/pseuds/Schnaucl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Other people pay the price for Charlie's selfishness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burned Bridges

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my betas emmademarais and knotted_rose. This was written for Numb3rs100. The prompt was "confession".

“Thanks for meeting me. I hope it wasn’t too out of your way,” Charlie said, signaling the bartender for a couple of beers.  
  
“You said it was important.”  
  
“It is.” Charlie picked at the label on his bottle for a moment before forcibly stilling his fingers. “When my mom came home to die I spent all my time in the garage trying to solve an unsolvable problem. I thought that was the most selfish I could ever be. But sending the rest of Phil’s work to Pakistan might be worse.”  
  
“How so?”  
  
“With mom I just couldn’t deal, but this time I acted deliberately. I’d tried so _hard_ to get Don to understand, but nothing I said or did made a difference. I thought if I sent those files maybe he’d finally _see_. I should’ve been thinking about Phil, not Don. Phil’s the one who’s probably been renditioned or sent to Gitmo and subjected to ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.’ They didn’t even let him have a _lawyer_ and I was more worried about Don than --”  
  
Charlie started tearing his napkin into pieces. “Instead of Phil, I focused on myself and proving my point to Don. If I resigned Don would ignore it and keep demanding that I help him until I gave in, which I would. So I burned my bridges -- blew them up spectacularly, destroyed all my ties with the FBI, the NSA, every three letter government acronym that I've ever worked with. They don't trust me now and Phil and his family are the ones suffering for it. Before, maybe I could’ve done something. But now…”  
  
“You said you wanted my help.”  
  
Charlie shook his head. “Not me. Help Phil. Please.”  
  
Ian rose, tossing a few bills on the counter. “I’ll see what I can do.”


End file.
